


In the Setting Sun

by Snowy_the_Sane_Fangirl



Series: DaveJade Week [6]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: (god remind me to take some of these tags off later), Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Angst, F/M, Friendship, Imprisonment, Romance, Torture, Wrongful Imprisonment, fanfic based on fanfic, how to i tag, it's two o'clock in the morning, magestuck, sort of, this is someone else's au, um
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4169817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowy_the_Sane_Fangirl/pseuds/Snowy_the_Sane_Fangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on adreamingsongbird's Magestuck universe (yes I do a lot of stuff based on her work fight me). After her rescue from the Mage's Compound, the Empire tries to lure Jade Harley back by holding someone close to her prisoner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Setting Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [At the Break of Dawn](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/122040) by adreamingsongbird. 



> You don't need to read all of [Magestuck](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10342553/1/Darkness-and-Dreams) to understand this fic, though I would suggest you read it all anyway. Most of the applicable backstory can be found in the smaller AU side fic, [At the Break of Dawn](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10646144/1/At-The-Break-Of-Dawn), and you should probably read at least that first. There are a few alterations to what happened in that fic (making this an AU of an AU of an AU, AUception hell yeah), especially towards the end, but they'll be mentioned as they become relevant.
> 
> The basics of the AU is that it's a sort of steampunk universe where the Beta kids are mages, or magic users. The planet Skaia is ruled by the Condesce, who has a nasty habit of kidnapping Space and Time mages and forcing them to work for her. Dave and Jade don't want to, and for that reason she had their families killed. Dave, his cousin Rose, Jade, and her brother John, have been on the run ever since. At one point, however, Jade was captured by the empire and experimented on for a while. The others rescued her, but not without lasting effects.
> 
> I didn't think up this storyline all by myself; [adreamingsongbird](http://adreamingsongbird.tumblr.com/), [davebirb](http://davebirb.tumblr.com/), and [howtheyshineforyou](http://howtheyshineforyou.tumblr.com) were all involved in the ideamaking and plotting. I've written and posted this without their permission, but if any of them have an issue with that, I will take it down.

Dave knew he was fucked pretty much from the moment he saw his own face coming at him. Multiple Daves weren’t really an unusual thing to have around a serious battle with the Empire’s soldiers, for moments at a time. But a number of things were wrong with the other Dave. He was wearing different clothes, and the clothes were not something the Time mage expected he would ever willingly put on himself; the red garb of a mage in the service of the Empress, a small time sigil attached to the left shoulder. His signature shades were conspicuously missing. He was moving just a little stiffly, like he was hurt but still determined to complete whatever mission he was on. Oh yeah, and that mission appeared to be punching an unsuspecting Current Dave in the face.

“What the fuck?” Dave exclaimed as he recovered from the blow, pressing his free hand against his sore jaw. A lot of questions were carried in the expletive, but he didn’t bother to clarify. The other Dave knew what he meant; he was him, after all.

Other Dave drew a sword, one that was distinctly not the same one Current Dave was holding in his hand. “I’m gonna cut all the ‘I had no choice’ bullshit. You’ll figure it all out pretty damn quick.” He waved his free hand at Rose, John, and Jade, who were too busy fighting to pay much attention to this exchange. “Get them the fuck out of here.”

Glancing back at his friends, Dave found himself automatically making the necessary calculations in his head. He could transport three people, not including himself, far enough back in time that they would have time to escape. He would be a bit worn out worn out, certainly not enough to prevent him from fighting, but it might as well be. Everything was coming together in his mind. That was the really fucking horrible part of being the Time guy. Some things were inevitable.

He did it. Jade, Rose, and John vanished in a flash of red, along with whatever of their gear they’d managed to pack before the soldiers caught up with them. They were an hour in the past now, probably confused, but safe. Safe was cool. Future Dave stepped forward, raising his weapon. He knew Current Dave would do everything in his ability to avoid capture, even though he’d already managed to put two and two together in his mind. He could say it was a matter of principle, or that he was trying to bring as many of the soldiers as he could down with him. Neither of those things would be true.

Raising his own sword, he took the offensive, jumping forward. Predictably enough, his double blocked the move easily, knowing how he would attack. The fight ought to have been almost evenly matched. Current Dave was surprised, though, to see that his future self tired easily and winced as he overextended from a thrust. It would have been almost easy to beat him, if it weren’t for all the soldiers.

His three friends safely out of their reach, they’d neatly repurposed themselves to close in on him, and he didn’t even bother to delude himself that he could fight them all off. He could leave, of course, jump somewhen that wasn’t now and save himself, but it would be pretty fucking useless. If he jumped then Future Dave would easily be able to follow him. He’d been him; he would certainly know where he was going. The douche had waited for Dave to get the others out, even told him to, but he knew himself well enough to know he had no qualms against hurting himself.

Especially not given the alternative.

This was a time loop. It was obviously a time loop and that was fucking bullshit but it was also true. He had to get caught. Future Dave probably would have let him know somehow if that was the case. He rarely interacted with himself while time traveling, but when he did, he wasn’t cagey about what was going on. Which meant that this time, it was the obvious. Fuck his life.

As long as he could ignore the inevitable, though, he did. He kept fighting himself and the soldiers, and wore the battle on for almost an hour. When they finally got him it was because he couldn’t dodge fast enough and got hit by some kind of stun energy bolt right in his left side. It left half his body hopelessly numb. How fucking ironic; the Time guy wasn’t fast enough. He dropped his sword and nearly fell, but kept his balance long enough to feel hands on his right shoulder. It was almost a relief when they yanked him backwards, because he wouldn’t embarrass himself by falling over or something equally fucking stupid. They dragged him over to a nearby tree, and knocked his shades off as they pinned him against it. His head was pounding but he could still vaguely recognize the muzzle of a gun of some sort against the back of it, which was fucking stupid, he lamely thought. Didn’t these assholes know how time loops worked?

Evidently they didn’t, as the weapon was kept there as they ripped off his cloak, belt, tunic, and the pack he’d managed to get on his back in preparation for the speedy exit that hadn’t come for him. They felt him up and down, pulling shit out of his pockets and poking around in his armpits. They took his boots off, too, which almost made him wish he actually had something hidden in them. Eventually the pulled his arms behind his back and restrained with a pair of handcuffs. He could hear his own voice and the voice of one of the soldiers, presumably a commander of some sort, behind him. Both voices contained a lot of restrained hostility, although he couldn’t make out the words. Whatever had left half his body numb had slowed down his thoughts and made it hard to access his magic. He’d already guessed he wouldn’t be facilitating his own capture willingly, but the snappish tone he heard in his own words more or less confirmed it.

Once his hands were cuffed he was pulled away from the tree, turned around, and pushed back towards his future self. As he awkwardly limped forward, because his hip wasn’t working either, he noticed the other Dave wasn’t cuffed. Even so, he was a little surprised when he vanished, leaving only a brief image of rotating cogs. It wasn’t so much at the fact that he’d tried to escape, because Current Dave would have done the same thing if there hadn’t been a future version of himself standing there. He was surprised he hadn’t noticed some sign of the attempt before it happened. He liked to think he knew himself pretty well, but then again, he thought, he’d never seen himself in a situation quite like this before.

“Should we alert Command?” one of the soldiers asked.

“No,” the person who seemed to be in charge replied. “The message said he’s tracked in the future. They’ll track him down. Let’s just get him back to the Compound.”

The word “compound” sent chills up and down Dave’s spine and he almost jumped himself, regardless of what consequences he wasn’t entirely knowledgable about that it might have on the timeline. He really, really did not want to go there. He finally admitted to himself that he was fucking terrified of going there. He had been all his life; it wasn’t anything new. But holy fuck did it hit hard right then. He was going there, he didn’t know what they were going to do to him, besides track him just like they’d tracked Jade. Oh god what else were they going to do to him that they’d done to Jade?

He was mercifully spared from having to contemplate that train of thought any further by the sound of the commander saying something into a radio, a code or some shit, and a Space mage appearing in a purple flash. All the soldiers crowded together around Dave and they vanished and reappeared in a different place. He was used to traveling via Space magic. That was his group’s primary method of transport, after all. But this mage felt different than Jade, and it made Dave really fucking uncomfortable. It was over in a second, though, and the next thing he knew they were standing in front of the Mage’s Compound. He’d been there before, but last time he’d been breaking Jade out, going in with a plan, and with John by his side. This time he was effectively alone, and he knew he wasn’t leaving that place until they sent him away.

Through the gates, across the courtyard that was simply overflowing with guards, into the building. Down the stairs and into the all-too-familiar halls - this was all so fucking surreal. The feeling was slowly coming back into his left arm and side and unpleasant tingles of not-quite-pain were running up and down his body. Walking was easier, but not much. He bit his lip as he remembered the last time he’d been there, the way Jade had been lying helplessly on the floor, broken and defeated, and finally he couldn’t take it any longer. He tried to jump, back in time to before this fucking place even existed or forward in time to the day it was razed to the ground, but of course nothing happened. He didn’t know why he’d tried. This place was rank with machines that suppressed magic, only allowing approved users to do anything at all. He remembered how he’d used his time powers to steal so fucking much money, more money than he’d ever seen before in his life, to pay someone off to turn off just a couple of them that night so he and John could rescue Jade. He knew shit like that wasn’t happening twice, not after what they’d done to that guy. Fat lot of good all that money had done him.

Once he’d started thinking about it, he couldn’t get his mind off Jade and that night. Even as they led him down into the prison area, chose a cell, and threw him into it, he was remembering the way she’d barely been able to raise her head and hadn’t been able to stand and oh god they were going to do that to him too. Whatever they’d done that had broken her so much was going to happen to him too and he didn’t think he could take it. If Jade couldn’t take it there was no way he could. Jade was strong and he was just fucking Dave.

As the door slammed shut behind him he could feel his arms and shoulders beginning to shake; at least they were shaking on his right side. They were still just sluggishly twitching on the other side of his body. He barely bothered to take the room in; small, plain, no windows, grey, and dim - seriously, there weren’t even any bloodstains on the walls. Hell, the place didn’t even stink that much. Where was their flair for dramatic effect? - with no furniture or accoutrements except for a pitifully tiny heap of fabric scraps in one corner, presumably for sleeping on. At least they’d hit the dramatic cliché on that one. Thumbs fucking through the roof, assholes. He tried to distract himself by wondering where the hell he was supposed to piss, but he didn’t need to piss at the moment, so it wasn’t a very effective distraction. Instead he put his back against the cold wall and slid onto the cold floor, wondering why they didn’t seem to have had even the common decency to take the fucking handcuffs off. Oh right. Because they didn’t have the common decency. Period. Decency wasn’t even that fucking common.

Regardless of the topics he tried to use to distract himself, his mind kept going back to Jade. She hadn’t talked too much about what exactly they’d done to her. They could track her, and they’d done something to give her access to more magic, but it hurt to use, and in fact it hurt all the fucking time, and whatever they’d done to get her there had fucking hurt and oh god oh god he was just so fucking terrified of everything he knew was about to happen to him.

He was left alone with his thoughts for a very long time, and they just kept on getting worse. He eventually gave up on the quest to not come up with increasingly bleak predictions for his eventual fate. Not long after, he gave up his efforts to keep his body under control. He let his shoulders tremble (the left side had managed to advance a tier to level “epileptic spasms” by that point), and soon the trembling spread to his entire body. Occasionally people passed the cell, but they took no notice of him, and he couldn’t hear anyone in the cells on either side of him. He took those as good enough signs that it was fucking okay and no one would notice when he finally couldn’t bite back the tears any longer. He didn’t even try to keep it quiet; loud, hiccuping sobs echoed in his little prison, and if he’d had the presence of mind to think about it he would have known that the next six cells on all sides could probably hear him, even through the metal windowless doors.

By the time he fell into a restless sleep born purely of exhaustion, his face was sticky and grimy with tears and snot he couldn’t wipe away.

* * *

In the forest many miles away, Jade was also thinking about the time she’d spent in the Compound, terrified for Dave and determined to get him out of there as soon as possible. The three of them were certain Dave was captured; there was no other reason for his not having met up with them yet. He was a Time mage, after all. “You got me out!” she exclaimed to John. They’d been having this fight, on and off, for most of the day.

“It took weeks - months of planning!” her brother replied, clutching her hand. “Don’t do it, Jade. They’ll just catch you too.”

“John is right,” Rose told her. “I promise I’ll See every moment I can. I’ll find him and find out how to rescue him. But you have to wait. Acting too early will only get us all killed.”

Jade raised a hand to her head. “I know, I know, but you don’t understand! The things they’ll do to him!” She was thinking of what happened to her only because it was the closest and most vivid thing. All sorts of experiments were going on in that compound, all of them horrifying and none of them something she thought Dave should ever be subjected to.

“Are things they’ll be doing to you again, too, if you rush in,” Rose said firmly. “Please, promise us you’ll wait until we have a plan.”

Jade nodded reluctantly. She wanted to rescue Dave, but not at the cost of her own freedom, not unless she was certain to get him out. She wouldn’t sacrifice herself for nothing. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to sacrifice herself at all.

“Good,” John said. “Let’s make a camp then, and sleep on it. We’ll have better ideas in the morning.”

The other two agreed. They built a small fire and huddled around it, eating distractedly, and not because any of them felt particularly hungry. Dave was foremost in everyone’s thoughts, and none of those thoughts were pleasant ones. There was little conversation before they lay down to sleep. Rose opted against sleeping, choosing instead to See in an attempt to find her cousin, despite the late hour. John tried to imagine the best scenario he could, in which Dave would just be forced to attend the Mage’s College and get a job in the service of the Empress. It wasn’t happening, he knew, but it was nice to think of. Jade focused on the tears slipping down her face, thinking of the many terrible things that awaited Dave, and tried to breath through her mouth because her nose was stuffy.

It was the most peaceful night any of them would have for a long while.


End file.
